Thanks for joining me this week. We’ve looked at the following posts this week:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt of What do you want to pass on…
• Friday’s Flashback Friday post which took a look at 5 past posts including Teams365 #2051 – Minimizing Digital Distractions, Teams365 #1730 – Virtual Meeting Wrap up Tools and Processes, Teams365 #1855 – Engage Groups Regularly with Some of the Virtual Engagement Techniques, Teams365 #2149 – Creating More Memorable Virtual Calls, and Teams365 #1035 – Create a Pause Point in Your Virtual Calls
• Thursday’s post on Creating Alignment as a Team
• Wednesday’s focus on Virtual Meetings – Keeping Them on Track
• Tuesday's focus on 3 ways to create more engagement in your Zoom calls
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip #139 – What does your virtual team need?

Have a great rest of the weekend!
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. 

I’ve recently started doing a daily tip on LinkedIn sharing a past Effective Virtual Conversations tip, OR a past Teams365 blog post.

Here are 5 posts you will want to check out:

1. Teams365 #2051 – Minimizing Digital Distractions: How is your focus being impacted in the virtual space? Check out this blog post for select tips on how to minimize some of the more common digital distractions.
2. Teams365 #1730 – Virtual Meeting Wrap up Tools and Processes: When we hang up on a virtual call it’s likely we are moving to a next one. What’s going to ensure that you wrap up and move on?
3. Teams365 #1855 – Engage Groups Regularly with Some of the Virtual Engagement Techniques I shared earlier this week on Tuesday in Teams365 2291.
4. Teams365 #2149 – Creating More Memorable Virtual Calls. This post provides some key focus areas for creating more memorable calls.
5. Teams365 #1035 – Create a Pause Point in Your Virtual Calls – Silence is often missing in the virtual space. What micro-pauses are you creating for people to stop and think during your calls?

All the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​

Just like in the in-person realm, meetings can quickly become a huge time element. Just like most things in the virtual space – communication, teamwork – both the good and the bad get augmented.

In hosting virtual meetings, keeping them on track is critical for success. In order to do this, consider going back to the basics:

1. What’s the purpose of the meeting? Is it to inform? Create something together? Check in and share information? Be clear on what the purpose is. Use this to create an agenda.
2. What preparation is needed? Be explicit about what people need to do BEFORE the call. Is there something they need to read? Review? Prepare and send?
3. How long is the meeting for? Start and end on time. Thinking that everyone needs to be there before you start is likely a waste of precious time.
4. What’s on the agenda? See #1 – Be sure to stick with the agenda and learn from past experience in terms of how much time is needed.
5. What are next steps? Be explicit about what’s been agreed to and who is responsible. You may have one person tasked with noting these next steps as you go so they can summarize at the end of the meeting. Provide people 30-60 seconds (or more) during the call to write it down and schedule it in.
6. What follow up is required? Once again, be clear about next step – WHO, WHEN, HOW….
7. What learning can you apply to your next meeting? With business pressures today, no one has time for ineffective meetings. Note things that are working, note things that aren’t and stop doing them! As more people become familiar and confident with these tech tools, it will be easier to iterate and share best practices.

I explore more meeting tips in Chapter 9 of Effective Virtual Conversations. What are your next steps around meetings this week?

Be sure to download a bookmark for you and your team to share from Effective Virtual Conversations.com. 

Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​

As a virtual business providing coaching and learning services to teams, organizations and individuals around the world, I’ve was an early adopter of Zoom almost five years ago. What I’ve learned from leading tens of thousands of hours of conversations on Zoom is that people want to have a conversation, not be talked at. This means that we need to learn how to use our virtual platforms more interactively.

Having worked in learning and leadership for many decades now, and having led teams globally, being ahead of the curve to figure out innovative ways we could “keep the conversation” rolling across teams, programs and countries has always had a very business focused end for me.

Today’s blog post goes behind the curtain to share three ways you might consider leveraging Zoom (or any other platforms you are using) to keep the conversation going. I write more about these in chapters 1, 2, 6 and 7 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

1. Consider using annotation. In annotation, there is a whole suite of tools for people to “pick up and use” – to mark on the screen, to share their insights via text, drawing and stamping. For larger groups this can be an important way to get the conversations flowing.

What might you do to leverage annotation?

2. Use breakouts. Just as the name suggestions – breakouts help us move from a larger group to sets of smaller groups. Anecdotally, the larger a group becomes the more apt people are to become a “social loafer” and let others do the work. As group size grows, it’s also more likely that people will feel less comfortable with connecting and sharing their insights. Just as you might ask people to turn to their neighbor and have a conversation, virtual breakouts allow you to do this as well.

Breakouts are powerful at any time, particularly when group members want to know more about each other.

What might you do to leverage the power of breakouts?

3. Incorporate polls. Polls are built into most virtual platforms or you can leverage lots of other polling software like Mentimeter or Kahoot. Also great for larger groups, polls help you take a temperature of the room, seeing what is important for the group that you are working with. Polls are much easier to track on a meta-level for super-large groups. You’ll find that in larger groups chat flows too fast to really follow at a granular detail.

Polls often, but not always, need to be created prior to the event although some will let you create in the moment. This is also where a producer or co-facilitator can be useful to have on board and work with.

What might you do to incorporate a poll into your upcoming session?

Curious about what these interactive tools look like in action? Check out the Virtual Lunch and Learn Calls I hosted in March to provide some immediate complimentary support to the wider community.

Curious about how to do this? Join me for an upcoming one-day Virtual Facilitation Essentials program. It’s a primer in the skills required to lead exceptional virtual calls. Learn more about this program and find out when our next program is here. 

Wishing you all the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​

Clear, and effective, communication is at the heart of any great virtual work. Whether we are communicating with our colleagues, our boss or stakeholders/customers, we want to be sure that we are clearly communicating what’s important.

In the remote and virtual space, communication takes many forms – from instant messages, to texts, to email. In these instances, we lose a lot of the tone that helps us pick up on cues about communication. Phone is also another important channel not to forget, as it does provide for the layer of TONE to be heard.

The best channel to incorporate for your work may be streaming – whether you come together on a Zoom call or a Skype call. This can provide the rich, visual cues that help us get a total picture of the person we are speaking with.

Effective virtual communication also involves another layer of effectiveness and that includes checking in that our message has been received as it was intended. What are you noticing about how your messages are being understood? Today’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tip is about COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE to reflect that important messages will need to be reinforced in different ways. If there is something important which needs to be shared, how do we ensure that we speak it, reinforce it with a written message, and maybe reach out for a one-on-one conversation?

Another channel available to us is also using images to anchor in the ideas we want to communicate. What are the icons and images which will support the conversation? What can you do to support the reinforcement of the messages you want to share?

As you think about your conversations this week, what’s important to reinforce?

Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

As many of you know, remote work has been the context of my professional life for the last thirty years, even before the Internet. Throughout the last three decades I’ve seen, and supported, thousands of professionals and teams in making the shift to remote work. With this in mind, I created a new whitepaper called the Remote Working Whitepaper – When You Need To Get Up To Speed Quickly.

Little did I know a few weeks ago when I finished writing this, and actually scheduled the post, that we'd be in a moment like this, where people all over the world are having to work remote.

It’s a very practical guide to support you and other team members in getting moving effectively in the remote space. The Guide covers these sections:

• Context and Benefits of Remote Work
• Pitfalls to Remote Work
• Remote, Virtual or Mobile?
• Who’s working in the remote space? The Digital Dozen
• What’s different in the remote space?
• 7 Remote Work Enablers
• What’s needed for success in the remote space?
• Making the Shift To Working Remote
• Making Remote Work, Work for You
• What Organizations Can Do to Support the Shift To Remote Work
• Five Digital Tools for Remote Workers
• Core Skills for Any Remote Worker
• In the Spotlight: Communication In the Remote Space
• Remote Work Myths

Teams and individual remote workers like solopreneurs will find the white paper of interest.

Pick up a copy here.

Many past organizational clients have been reaching out to me in the last few days looking for support around their shift to remote work.
Different supports we offer for remote work includes:

• Virtual Team Sessions
  
• Virtual Planning sessions
• Virtual Strategic Planning Sessions for organizations
• Virtual facilitation skills training - gain skills in leading virtual conversations
• Leading virtual sessions for their organizations and teams to help with the transition to working remote.
  

If I, or my company, can be of service to you at this time, please reach out and contact me - phone # is below or please reach out by email. Don't feel like you need to go it alone.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!
​

This week brings us to Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #135. In remote meetings it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. One of the ruts we may find ourselves in is always meeting at the same time. If we are all in similar time zones that’s ok, but if we are in the space of remote work, it’s possible that one or a handful of the team is ALWAYS meeting at a time which is not convenient.

Today’s prompt gets you thinking about ROTATING things – whether it’s time, meeting location, or focus so that it’s more equitable.

Consider who might be getting shortchanged with your meetings or learning.
​
Enjoy!
Jennifer

Communication flow is key to work today – whether we are in person, or virtual/remote. Today’s post shares with you 8 Essential Meeting Questions to be asking every time you are preparing for, and leading meetings. The recent impact of COVID-19 has disrupted operations for many global businesses. One key area that’s been disrupted is that of meetings.
​
Let’s take a look at the 8 Essential Virtual Meeting Questions I share in my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations.

1. What’s the purpose of the meeting?
2. What takeaways do we want?
3. Who needs to be on the call?
4. What preparation is needed for us to be most effective?
5. What pace to we want to keep it engaging?
6. What will help keep the focus?
7. What is absolutely essential to cover?
8. What follow up might be required?

(Source: Chapter 9, Effective Virtual Conversations, Jennifer Britton, Copyright 2017)

As you consider your next meeting, what’s important? What’s going to help it be the best meeting possible?

Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon (Kindle and Hard-copy versions available).

Two other things which will help you maximize this virtual conversation in the remote meeting space are:

1. Having an agenda. Being sure that the agenda is what people want and that you stick to it! Unlike a face-to-face meeting where people may have lots of time to come and go, stick to the agenda.
2. Be clear with responsibilities and accountabilities. One of the nice things with virtual meetings is that you may be able to record them (check local legislation around what is feasible and/or part of company policy) and have them transcribed quickly as a record of next steps. This can save hours of meeting notes!

What’s going to help you with your remote meetings?

Looking for more support on thriving when you need to move things remote? Let’s talk about training or consulting support for your organization, or have your folks join us on one of the Wednesday One-Day Virtual Facilitation Essentials programs. These one-day Virtual Train-the-Trainers are geared to get professionals up to speed in leading virtual conversations of all kinds – meetings, team building events, retreats and coaching sessions. Learn more about the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program here. 

Best,
Jennifer

​For the last few months, I’ve been enjoying the creative process of bringing my focus on remote work out into the wider world via the Remote Pathways Podcast. If you haven’t stopped by for a listen, please do! You can listen in here.

​In the Remote Pathways Podcast we explore the people, places and practices of remote work today. The podcast spans the ecosystem of remote work, which I bring to life via the Digital Dozen™, twelve different types of remote workers. From those who are attached to, and lead, larger corporate teams in the business sector, to solopreneurs, those who Work From Anywhere, mobile Sales Professionals, as well as project managers who lead global teams. Remote work has never been so diverse.

Regardless of the differences to the type of work we do, most of us experience similar challenges. I say this with confidence, as over the last three decades I have worn many of the different hats in inhabiting a variety of roles in working the remote, mobile and virtual space.

Today’s blog post explores eight differences when working in the remote space. Consider how these impact you:

Autonomy - The paradigm of leadership when managing a remote team needs to change from an older model of control and micro-management, to one which empowers and coaches. With team members potentially multiple time zones away, and sometimes a lengthy plane ride, as leaders we need to shift our role to one of liaison, trouble-shooter and empowerer. Our team members are the ones “on the ground” with the expertise we will never have in our parachute meetings with them. What are you doing to shift the way you lead and empower your team?

Skills - Related to the shift in formal leadership, remote teams benefit when an emphasis is placed on building and equipping all team members with skills in leadership, teamwork etc. everyone on a remote team will benefit from skills in communication, decision making,  prioritization, not just the formal leader. What are you doing to equip all your team members with skills?

Connections with others - I recently hosted a community call I entitled “No person is an island”. In Effective Virtual Conversations, I started writing about the importance of remote workers being intentional in exploring what their connections are with others. In a team-based context, the work I am doing, or not, may have a significant impact on a team member half a world away.
With this in mind, it’s important that team members do get a regular opportunity to spend time with each other – formally in meetings and possibly informally in virtual co-working sessions. Building in processes in meetings and systems to help team members see the connection between their work, boosts productivity and engagement.

What are you doing to create formal and informal virtual work events to connect and collaborate?

The Matrix -  In a remote work situation it’s likely that team members may be part of multiple teams. This has implications around being very clear around roles, goals and priorities, as well as making sure that team culture is strong. If I am a member of the Toronto team, and also a special projects team, am I clear about the differences in team culture, and priorities? Spending time as a remote team clarifying how you want to work together is an essential part of high performance. I share more about this in part 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

There are many other differences which exist from motivation, and inner drive, to relationship building and visibility. I’ll be sure to address some of these other important distinctions in tomorrow’s post.

Looking for support to shift you in working remote? Let's set up a time to connect and discuss  your coaching, or team development needs around remote working.  Email or phone.

Best,
​Jennifer

​As an increasing number of people are moving to remote working conditions, what are the things you can do to set yourself up for remote working success?

​Let’s take a look back at Teams365 #2066. Here’s what I wrote in that post from earlier last year:

A tipping point around remote work seems to be starting to occur - with more and more organizations realizing that a key part of the talent equation is more flexible working arrangements. With large and small companies embracing remote work arrangements, we are seeing very compelling research and data around how remote work can support employee engagement and productivity. Read about what Craig Thornton of Telus shared recently about how remote work benefits both employer and employee.

This was a focus of my 2017 writing in my book Effective Virtual Conversations and continues to be a significant part of the work I am focusing on with teams and organizations today.

As someone who has supported remote workers and teams for several decades now, it’s great to see the tide turn again back to putting the flexibility in workers’ hands.

Today’s post and tomorrow’s post will explore what organizations and teams will want to do in setting themselves up for remote work success this fall.

Today’s post looks at it from the macro, organizational level. Tomorrow’s post will look at it from the employee’s perspective.
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Four things organizations will want to ensure they do, are:

1. Specify expectations around work output and quality. What gets measured in any work space should be the work output. Unfortunately, what often gets equated with success is how much time goes into making something happen. In the remote space, the success unit is OUTPUT.

Therefore, consider questions such as: What will success look like with work output for each employee? What are the expectations in terms of work, use of materials, security etc.?

2. Provide connection with the office and other team members. Collaboration is just as important – and sometimes even more so – in the remote space. Be sure to spend time focusing in on orienting people across the organization and provide virtual events so people can get together. Invest in remote team development. How are you connecting people formally and informally?

Beyond meetings, are there virtual events people can join – lunch and learns; co-working opportunities etc.?

3. Adopt the mantra that “out of sight does not mean out of mind”. One of the pitfalls to the transition to a remote work environment is that people can feel that they are not connected. Out of sight does not mean out of mind. Look at how you communicate and value connection and teamwork. Think about how communication and meetings can become more intentional and focused. Think about how you are bringing people together and connecting them with the communication which is needed.

4. Provide the tools and resources to make this happen. The transition to working remote arrangements takes time. It also requires a mind shift in many instances. What tools and resources are needed? What changes in the way you work is required?

For more tips on working remote be sure to check out my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. Part 1 focuses on the ecosystem of the virtual space where conversations take place (from education to coaching to teams), Part 2 explores HOW you can work more effectively (meetings, program design etc.), and Part 3 focuses on virtual leadership, and virtual teams in the remote space.

What can you be doing to set yourself up for remote working success?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer